ANKARA

Iran's Health Ministry on Wednesday reported nearly 21,000 COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day figure since the first case was detected in February 2020 in the country, according to local media.

A total of 193 more people died in the last 24 hours, state news agency IRNA quoted Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari as saying.

Some 20,954 new cases had been identified, some 2,319 of whom have been hospitalized, Lari said.

Lari said the death toll increased to 63,699, and the number of cases to a total of over 1.98 million.

The spokeswoman said as many as 4,177 patients were in critical condition, while recoveries exceeded 1.67 million.

In a country with a population of 83 million, more than 13.33 million tests have been administered in Iran to date.

Iran's 257 provinces have been classified as red zones with a high risk of coronavirus transmission, while 129 have been designated as medium-risk or "orange zones", 51 as low-risk or "yellow zones", and 11 as “blue zone”.